Failed LPN Calculation Test

I can feel your pain. Yes I was one of the ones dismissed for missing one on the med cal test in my last semester. And dumb me went back and was dismissed again in the last semester for not passing the foley cath checkoff two weeks before graduation. My grades were good. So yes I went back for more and will graduate in 4 weeks from another program. I should have went to another program after my first med failure. It seems alot of schools have the weed out process. All I can say is don't give up. So three years later I will finally be a LPN. And I am going to make it because my school does everything they can to get the students through the program. Hang in there

Hi,
We also lost quite a few from the first dosage test but the good news is that once you get it you will be golden for the rest of them. Find out where you made your errors and focus on that area. If you are at all cloudy on how to do the calculations, drip factors etc. you must figure that out and commit it to memory. What I did was do the entire exam twice and one time it saved me from a silly math error. We had to have 100%. Hang in there, take a deep breath and just do it!

Wow! We were allowed to miss 2, and still pass. It was great while in school, but the reality of what would have been 2 med errors in 20 pts kind of scared me. I asked for practice questions from the staff and went over the results with them. I worked and re-worked problems out of the "dosage calculations" workbook we had. I asked others who seemed to have a handle on them. I prayed. After I finished the tests, (we had 4 or 5, I can't remember exactly how many now), I started over and went through them all from scratch again, and managed to catch errors myself. If I had time left, I'd start over again. Remember to breathe while your taking the exam. Nice, slow breaths to help keep anxiety down and to help you focus on the task at hand. If necessary, close your eyes, breathe, and tell yourself "I can do this". Nursing school is soooo stressful that we tend to "psych" ourselves out and make mistakes we wouldn't if we were calmer. You'll do fine.

I heard that my school started doing this to the RN program. Each semester, they have a medical dosage exam; you cannot use a calculator and you have a very short time to answer like 15 questions. I know I would have failed. To this day, I carry a calculator with me for this purpose. If I were asked to do it from my head, I would have failed. I do understand the purpose of doing this, but really, unless you are doing calculations every day once you are a nurse, it is another skill that will be forgotten.

Oh, I'm sorry...I wish you the very best of luck. Keep practicing over and over again until you get it.

Hi KKL,

Do you belong to a study group? Maybe you and others in your class can help each other. I had a problem....more like a fear of med calc. I was very determined and did extra homework problems just so I could stay ahead. I had the highest grade in the class. My teacher, Ms Luby, was wonderful and when she saw any puzzled looks on my face, she wouldn't go any further until I understood. Bottom line...if a teacher will not stop to teach you, then he or she needs to be reported. That's what they are getting paid to do.